Tbh yes! Lol
Sci-fi enthusiast querying a space opera novel which asks ‘how does technology change us?’ JpSpalding.com novella about birds. Mybook.to/BTBW Political Video editor. VFX compositor. Owner of a smol parrot
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Tbh yes! Lol
I thought this was about clade taxonomy, but it’s actually a biopic about David Starr Jordan, controversial ichthyologist and Millers’ struggle to find meaning. Fun, short, reads exactly like an episode of radio lab, but in print form. I guess @hankgreen.bsky.social can still write his fish book
#PrivateRites my favorite of last month, ambient and atmospheric. Ruthless, tension woven through every fragmented sentence. The best presentation of how we would act in climate catastrophe. Lovely clever descriptions in the city. Hints at the story beneath the story sprinkled effortlessly. 11/10
#SaveTheCatWritesANovel lord help me I had made up my mind not to read this craft book. Pros Rigorous reductionist breakdowns Formal approach and quick fixes Help with queries and synopsis Cons The first half of every chapter is telling you why this chapter is important. 💙📚 #BookSky
#BintiTheNightMasquerade is more a part 2 of the second book than a standalone like the first Pros Good stakes and mystery Solid writing I feel like there is a mastery of craft here that was not present in the first two Cons More special powers! A new superpower every five pages! #SciFi 🪐📚
#GideontheNinth is perhaps the most hyped bestseller I’ve laid hands on this year. While I found the edgy voice tiresome initially there is SOMETHING about the unreliable narrator structure that had me gripping my kindle at 1am, unable to put it down. What dark magic is this!? #BookSky 💙📚
#TheTwoTowers what can I say about this cultural touchstone that could possibly add value? Pros Beautiful description and the best 3rd omniscient you’ve ever witnessed. Andy Circus takes the audio narration and RUNS with it CONS golem is a full 10db louder than any other character #fantasy
#BintiHome Book two in the trilogy, continues to pull out all the stops even when you thought no stops remained. Pros Interesting cultural exploration that feels deeply understood Cons back in the setting of book 1 She gets superpowers like an open wound in a plague ward 🪐📚 #SciFi
#HummingbirdSalamander Similar to the southern reach but somehow distinctly different. Vandermeer unique brand of new weird on full display. Pros Fun weird mystery Intricate and unpredictable characters Cons post climate change earth is ill defined and leaves stakes nebulous at times 🪐📚 #SciFi
#Deliverer Book 9 in the series! Political intrigue! Court drama! Mystery and mayhem! Pros Satisfying and realistic conclusion to the coup arc while staying grounded Cons Anytime Bren gets into his job as a diplomat, it’s inevitably interrupted by a small war, but I like his job!! 🪐📚 #scifi
It’s that time again! #BookClub for August #amReading an eclectic variety last month, though, of course, majority scifi~ My thoughts/reviews 🧵 💙📚 #bookTok #BookSky
Update: I have just spent the day rewritten my query (again) from the ground up, following a new set of formulae, in response to fresh feedback. #amQuerying #Authors #WritingCommunity
Setup the new humm feeder last night and we’re already on our third patron of the morning! Look at this little lady~ #BirdSky 🪶
It’s such a great platform, I describe it as a giant cork board where you can arrange things however it makes sense in your head. All the bespoke tools out there and complex tiered systems, I just want an intuitive blank page I can drop assets into, link  things, like a giant conspiracy board
Ooooohhh I saw this on the shelves at tattered cover and was sooooo close to picking it up, I’m a huge fan of atleast the concept of a mathematical proof and the ways in which we evaluate ideas (like Hank greens channel occasionally explores) let me know how it is!
top level brainstorming and outlining document for my new manuscript, Multitudes. A fluid and evolving document always adapting to what the story and characters throw at me. As a fan of @milanote.bsky.social I like to share what these boards can be, a reflection of your mind #amWriting #WriteSky
#CMDenver #CreativeMornings Meant to post this yesterday. CM is one of the best events around for creatives, for designers, filmmakers, WRITERS. Seriously go check this out, with 100’s of locations there’s a good bet one is near you, meeting monthly. FIND YOUR COMMUNITY #WritingCommunity
Every time I’m at the book store I’m like “ok FOCUS we have a list of relevant recent best sellers in our genre to learn from” I’m always pulled aside by an interesting cover in literary fiction or an attractive title of economics nonfiction. Despite reading 6 novels a month I’m always sorely behind
Yes I loved the narration although changing narrator for book two was jarring because I was so accustomed to what mosscap sounded like it felt like a soft betrayal for the first few chapters
All of mine are paperback and small which I think makes them relatively cheap. When I order copies for myself it scales based on how many I order, but I usually gets batches of 20 for like 40$ with shipping. Any more and I’d be overwhelmed.
It’s between 99 cents and 3.99 depending on the platform Ingram has it listed on, which is at-cost (I make 1-2¢ on each sale lol)
To clarify, I also like to occasionally throw in a curveball, like reading eleven books back to back from an obscure series only tangentially related to my genre. I say this as the 12th book arrives in my mailbox from ThriftBooks~
Quick! Scan and save! I’m shaking with second-hand anxiety on your behalf
Yeah! The full duology in one beautiful book! Bought it just to have it on the shelf! Originally, I listened to it as an audiobook first, then got the ebook, then bought the individual novellas for two different book exchanges with friends. I’ve bought these books like 5 times at this point lol
Amazing advice I heard: Read the classics in your genre, Read the best sellers in your genre, And read books on the craft of fiction. This is how you develop your voice. #amReading #WriteSky #Authors
Never have I entered a tattered cover and left without atleast one book. Today was no exception. #BookSky #amReading
So, when a lit mag’s average response time is 5 days, according to moksha, and they’ve had your short story on submission for 17 days, that’s generally a good sign, right? #WritingCommunity
Everyone eventually has to write that “an author struggling to finish writing” story at some point in their career. It’s like a ‘write’ of passage. #WriteSky
They’re COMING
beta reader A: "why so much detail?" beta reader B: "i love all this detail" author: #WriterSky #WritingCommunity
Really just buying myself space to expand and deepen the emotional context of a few key chapters in 30-35 which my beta readers found a bit thin~
Update: rewrote chapter three, which I KNEW was bloated, shaved off 500 words. We may yet save ourselves from this 120k word cap! #amEditing #WriteSky
Doing a little rewriting/workshopping during my three hour layover in Vancouver #YVR #amEditing #WriteSky #Authors
When really they’re a fish like everything
1 Onion Subscriber vs 20 Non-Subscribers, on our new series, Encircled. Subscribe at http://membership.theonion.com/totepromo/?campaign=701cx00000IyKhTAAV today and receive a free tote bag.
A short #WIPSnips today, and I must admit I had not used ‘reptile’ even once in my 120,000 words, but it was a useful descriptor for this scene, so I’ve added it. Malcolm gets his first good look at his new host, the planetary director~ #WritinPrompts #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
A thousand words today, knew what the chapter has to do, but trouble executing it. The sort of thing that’s best to sleep on for a day or two and see what the ol’ id can come up with. #amWriting #WriteSky
As a reader, I love nothing more than finding a word I need to look up because the author is writing quality work!
Honestly as someone with soft teeth 🦷 who does everything and still regularly suffers cavities, dentistry feels like it’s trapped in a dark ages, a hundred years behind most other medical advancements, I’m down for anything! Give us the innovation!
Me in every city I visit: should I move here?
Yep! Jpspalding.com which I recently retooled
Down to rocky point, the bird observatory! I’ll be there for about a week, my partner is starting a seasonal job there for the fall
On the ferry! ⛴️ Victoria dead ahead~
Update: copy added to neighborhood tiny library in Ferndale, WA. My influence expands. Get yours: mybook.to/BTBW and learn about a species of warbler almost chiefly on the east coast. 🪶 💙📚 #booktok #BookSky
God bless libraries. I’m stuck south of the Canada border, short some paperwork that’s needed, and a library with free WiFi and printing and cozy seats was 15min away.
Yep yep! Mybook.to/BTBW I’m self published through Ingramspark so it’s up on kobo, Apple Books, Amazon, B&N etc
Dropped two more copies of black throated blue warbler in Montana today! Didn’t get photos cause my phone was dead, but found a tiny library in tiny Park City and another in Missoula as we headed north! I’ve got three more on me just in case as we enter Washington state. #indieauthor #tinyLibrary 📚
An abridged BBC radio drama production of the book is a book
Looks like next one is April 18th, just put it in my calendar with a million reminders
So sorry that’s the worst! What a mess @safety.bsky.app we need help with this!
I have only two creative modes: 1) Making every inch of my house sparkle to avoid doing even a single second of work. 2) Being so obsessed with my work that I neglect housework completely. Current mode: Please call before coming over 😅 #amwriting #kidlit #kidlitart #art
A #writingPrompt from my new manuscript, Multitudes, in which Paul navigates the precarious downtown of New Orleans. #WipSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
Ah shoot I missed it! That looked like a good one too. I’ll save that for next year
Another 2000 words this morning. After reading the accounts of many authors through query trackers wonderful success stories collection, I’ve discovered morning writing is the most reliable to maintain regular progress before the day interrupts and while the mind is fresh! #amWriting #WriteSky ✍️
Me discovering the format of fiction novels for the first time as a child
This is happening to me too! I’ve been having a nap at 2pm (because I work remote) for several days now.
Oh no! I was wondering, just got a dm, in fact
There’s a toad 🐸 living in our backyard 😍 in our flowerbed. I only see her once every couple of weeks so this time I was sure to get a picture
In the process of #amQuerying just to share my experience with others who are in the trenches. I’m rewriting my query letter again based on new feedback from my writers group, and I also rewrote my first chapter for clarity of the emotional arc. Querying is not static, it is a process! #Authors ✍️
A full manuscript is so small you can get away with lots of different solutions that all work. I put a copy on my phone too, just in my files
Wow! Is this your first one to be accepted?? Nice work!
Wow I meant “the absolute mythos” thanks autocorrect 🙏
😆
Big big fan of MMPB. In fact that’s really the only format of physical book I buy now. If I love a novel, but it’s not available in that format, I’ll probably just get the ebook and save the space on my shelves for the next one~ 💙📚
Perhaps the official terminology should be something akin to hospice or some such where passages may occasionally and miraculously recover??
Finished wuthering Heights for the first time late last year. Discovered a beautiful copy of tenant of wildfell hall at the airport (of all places) and diving into that this month! Love the absolute method surrounding these literary giants.
Deleted scenes! I have a “graveyard“ document I pile things into (mostly darlings I cut but still love) and occasionally bits and bobs are resurrected from the graveyard 🪦
If you're having a bad day at work, remember that this guy had to be back in the office on the same day as his funeral.
Oh yeah! I have a submissions folder that captures the submitted versions of short stories in addition to backups. How do you decide a major version? After you do a big rewrite?
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I backup manuscripts every few weeks onto Dropbox and my phone so usually I’d I want to pull an older piece of text I can from there. But I just keep editing the same document (unless I’m doing a page one rewrite) #WritingCommunity
#WIPSnips where Malcolm heads to the spaceport to answer a mysterious message. #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #Authors 🪐📚
Good writing day overall. Approaching to the dreaded 30k doldrums new manuscripts often face. Deep breaths. No sudden movements. Keep your palm open flat and steady. Wait for the manuscript to come to you. #Writesky #AmWriting
I’ve heard the stat “less than 10 copies” recently so I can believe it. I attribute reasonably good sales to the community, the narrow niche, and its brevity and inexpensive price tag
Did I mention this little novella WON THE INDIE READER DISCOVERY AWARD this year?? And it’s sold over 200 copies! How many self-pub titles can say that? Anyway, this is animal-nature fiction. Coming-of-age with cozy mystery. Also lots of bird facts. LOTS. I’m feeling market-y today. Sue me. 💙📚
I just realized after I got a website and updated my Bsky link, it broke the links in the back of my books, but according to Bsky I still own the original domain: jpspalding.bluesky.social/ is there any way to link that to my current domain?? #bsky 🦋
Haha yep shampooed the carpet, vacuumed, folded laundry, and put 3000 words down!
Woohoo! My sample copies came in, and aside from some minor printing “variety” everything is in order. Our physical copies are back in business! This latest printing has all grammar and spelling errors fixed (caught by readers) Get your (potentially slightly unique) copy today mybook.to/BTBW 🐦
I had a running list at one point of somewhat esoteric vocab that I nevertheless found extremely common in certain types of fiction (with the goal of planting them in my own manuscript, haha). But I love the word copse, such a crunchy, evocative detail
I do this! I have a growing Spotify playlist for my manuscript that I listen to while I write. My only problem is it’s not long enough, if I write for 2-3 hours I have to switch to YouTube ambience at some point
Butts 👏in👏seats👏 I’m doing the dishes atm
the producers of Hoarders have taken my kindle paperwhite
DC is one of my favorite cities. I get to spend a couple months there every year and it’s such a pleasant and vibrant place between the farmers markets and the robust public transit. I feel safer there than I do in some parts of downtown denver
Is word using AI for spellcheck??
Word doesn’t recognize a ‘copse’ of trees as a real word??? That feels like an almost obligatory term in literary fiction, up there with “gossamer” and “trundle” which have a contractual quota to appear atleast once every hundred pages. #WriteSky #amWriting 💙📚
I actually have this entire book idea, roughly fleshed out, that I recognize I do not have the ability to do justice. I’m waiting till I have atleast three other manuscripts under my belt before I’ll even attempt to tackle it, and even then, it will be a real challenge~ #Authors #WritingCommunity
Occasionally I run into a scene in my writing that I can say with absolute certainty I do NOT have the skills to tackle… which just means I’ll be rewriting it ALOT (unless I find a similar scene in the books I’m currently reading, which is always a godsend) #WritingCommunity #amWriting #Writesky ✍️
Good! I feel really good about it, and regret at how muddled the last iteration was. It really feels like it’s the essential character, goal, motive, conflict, stakes. Like an agent won’t have to dig and translate to get the important details. We’ll see how I feel about it tomorrow morning tho~
Oooh smart
What I’m doing is copying the structure from the jacket copy of a couple of books that I’m reading right now. I had previously followed every query guide online, got critiques, but it always feels a little muddy. The structure of jacket copy feels waaaay more straightforward and hook-y
You know what I’ve realized? I LOOOOVE listening to a nonfiction book about the craft of fiction while I work out, then come home and dive into edits or a new chapter, applying the things I’ve learned and thought about from the gym. It’s just perfect priming~ #WriteSky #amWriting #Authors
That’s so many! After about 15 I start skimming, left with a profound sense of “yeah, this is all probably fine actually”
Congratulations, you’ve achieved the coveted Total Dissolution of the Self™️. You may now close your laptop, get yourself a little snack and wait for your subconscious to build you back up overnight! 🍦
Today’s adventure, I’m rewriting my query letter from the ground up~ #WritingCommunity #amQuerying #WriteSky
Finally picked up @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social hummingbird salamander and the premise appears to be, “hey what if somebody was fucking losing their mind?” Which is a familiar comfort and precisely what I’ve come to expect 💙📚 #AmReading #bookTok
This looks so cool!
Loving using this juicing appliance this summer except it seems just insanely wasteful?? Like I put what would be a whole grocery bag full of fruits and vegetables into one glass and the pulp in the catch is ALOT. I put it in the composter, but STILL. I may just go back to smoothies.
Fuckin’ Last Of Us ass county
It’s weird for sure, and long! I’m 50% of the way through and I feel like I’ve read three books already with the sheer density of happenings, but in a good way. Weird, action-packed, and absurd. I suppose I knew what to expect going into it, based on the recommendation I got
Hey hey! 👋 Scifi and speculative fiction here! Thanks for making these! Or if you’re feeling punchy make a “hard scifi space opera only” group with me and like one other person in it